I just got back before from Essendon Vs Richmond which was an interesting game. Despite it being Kevin Sheedy’s last game in Melbourne Essendon just couldn’t get there act together and were defeated by the mighty tigers. At the end they had a bit of a fireworks diplay and a movie about James Hird and Kevin Sheedy. I then had to brave Melbourne’s fantastic public transport system which ended up getting me home safe and sound (albeit a little late)

Now onto my past week, last Friday I had the University transistion day which was pretty much useless, as usual Connex made this day more difficult than it needed to be with trains being cancelled between Caulfield and Springvale, so I had to rely on a public bus to get me home. Friday was my second visit to the University of Melbourne in the past week with me also going there last Sunday for their Open Day. The open day was pretty good and I got some good info about the Uni and its courses.

Tomorrow will be a big day with the  careers expo which is the final event of all my careers and uni orientated events. I have approximately a month to put in my application and then its just sitting and waiting for an offer.

Overall I have found the last month to be a very academic orientated one, which unfortunately wont change for the next few months at least.

Last night I went and saw Fame. I was very impressed with the professionalism of the show and I congratulate all the cast and crew on their work. Luke has however earnt the nickname “Curtains” for his wonderful performance on opening night, however apart from that everything went relatively well. I wish I had the time to actually be involved with the performance however unfortunately this was not possible.

On another note this weekend will be a relatively quiet one, however I am going into the University of Melbourne on Sunday for their open day so that should be good.

Today we held an event in the quadrangle at lunch to celebrate Dr Pargetter’s life and I must say it was amazing how many people got involved. Usually during these quadrangle events you get a couple of students and occasional staff helping out and thats about it. Today however every prefect, nearly every staff member, members of year 11 and event the facilities staff all worked together to create what will surely be a memorable event. I must say I’m also very amazed about the number of visitors to my blog over the past few days, it has certainly been the largest number ever to visit this little site, but it really goes to show just how much Dr Pargetter meant to us all.

Principal of Haileybury, Dr. Robert Pargetter passed away this morning, aged 63 years. Whether you agreed with his changes or not, everyone agrees that he was an innovator. He had a passion for education and had a distinguished career including as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Monash University. In 1999 he came to Haileybury where he led what was an ailing school on a journey that saw it become one of the largest schools in Australia with a unique academic program and structure. He will long be remembered by those at Haileybury as the Principal that started the girls college, a move that has proven successful. Those who knew Dr. Pargetter, or had met him, knew that he took the students seriously, and was open to any suggestions and ideas made by the student body. Unfortunately he did not live to see the final results of his hard work and ideas, however I’m sure the students at Haileybury will do him proud. Rest in Peace Dr. Pargetter.

Well this week has certainly been interesting. The Principal of our school Dr. Pargetter has tended his resignation, which means that Haileybury will be getting a new principal. Dr Pargetter has been the principal of Haileybury during my entire time here, and he has made the school what it is today. While many people have at times disagreed with some of the things he has done (myself included) I believe that Haileybury is, through his leadership and vision, a better school than what it was in 1999. Dr. Pargetter came to our school during a period of declining enrollments and growing student and staff dissatisfaction. When he started, Haileybury College as it was known then, was an all boys school which was relatively traditional (Aikman had modernised it to an extent). Haileybury is now a “parallel educational” school that has over 3000 students with a unique academic program and some pretty good new facilities. There are however some programs that I believe need tweaking, in particular the Lecture and Term 4B program, however the general philosophy behind them is a good one. I commend and thank Dr Pargetter for what he has done for the school and I hope his successor will build upon Dr Pargetter’s vision and success, as Dr. Pargetter always used to say “success breeds success”.